The Dragon Riders
by Nikki Flinn
Summary: Sequel to The Christmas War and conclusion to the Dragon Riders trilogy. The fate of the war rests in the hands of the Riders
1. Chapter 1

The Dragon Riders

Chapter One

We Don't Wanna Go To War Today...

Draco's POV

War.

It's the one thing I've done my best to avoid. War would have been a great thing to avoid. But lately, everyone seems to be shoving war down my throat.

Currently I was at about the same level as Ginny.

"What do you mean, the Dragon Riders? They're real?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I'm afraid so."

"So who are they?"

Dumbledore just stared at her. Ginny flushed red. "Oh...oh."

"Excuse me, sir," Gr- Hermione chirped. "But do you mean to tell me you know _who_ took Blaise?"

I sat up a little straighter at that. I had my own theories but supporting them was another thing entirely.

Dumbledore sighed. "Unfortunately Mr. Pettigrew seems to know how to get into the castle undetected. We can offer you help with this particular man however. Sirius Black, your uncle and godfather, Mr. Malfoy, has offered to lend a hand if necessary."

I tried to remember Sirius but all I could come up with was the wanted pictures of him from several years ago.

"Don't you mean Harry's god father?" Ginny asked.

I looked at Dumbledore sharply, willing him to deny it. Dumbledore just smiled. I really could see why my father hated that man.

Hermione made a noise and I looked over at her in time to see her hiding a snicker. I narrowed my eyes at her and was considering leaving the room. Then Ginny turned on my lap and kissed me lingeringly.

Robbed of speech, I stared at her for a moment. She smiled and deposited another kiss on my nose. How was it she knew exactly how to bring me back?

Weasley was looking a little flustered and Hermione hastily brought the conversation back to something a little more relavant.

"So, you mean to tell us that we're the Dragon Riders?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I am aware that you four do not have the proper training but I am afraid time is rather limited for us. Sirius and Charlie Weasley will be coming in later today. Your training must start tomorrow."

Ginny looked delighted to hear her brother was coming but apprehension flowed readily through the room. Dumbledore gave us our assignments and wrote a note for access to the restricted section of the library.

Ginny held my hand as we made our way up to the library.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I replied.

She stopped, taking my face in her hands and looking into my eyes. "Draco, I know you don't want to go to war. None of us do. But we're Riders."

"And Riders never back down," I finished for her. I kissed her.

"Just promise me, Ginny. Promise me we'll always be together."

"Only if you promise to always be mine."

As Ginny spoke I recognized the area of the castle we were in. This little niche had a way of binding promises. I didn't tell Ginny that but swore. After all, I knew I always would be hers. And she mine.

Hand in hand, we made our way up to the library.

(A/N: Short little chapter, I know. The next few should be longer, but I don't know yet. We'll see. Still, hope you liked it. PS, who liked the fact that Draco and Harry are now god brothers? Oh, and just so you know, I am doing NaNoWriMo again this year. I should be far enough ahead on my updates so I can still update this month but I will try to give some warning if I can't.


	2. Chosen

Chapter Two

Chosen

Ginny's POV

When we were little, I had always loved the stories of the Dragon Riders. Charlie had always loved telling me them because of my reactions, he said.

It was very strange to suddenly be thrust into these old legends.

Charlie was waiting for us down on the Quidditch pitch the next morning. He grinned at me and seemed not to even notice Draco.

"Let's get to it, shall we?" he said. "Dumbledore believe you four are the primary Riders. You all know what ones they are? Red, white, black and silver. Even if you aren't we still need you to call your dragons. I assume you've read up on the summoning?"

I nodded hesitantly. The four of us had spent several hours in the library last night, working our way through numerous texts, all thickly worded and rife with similes and metaphors. Hermione seemed to know best what everyone was saying and she provided us with translations.

Essentially the summoning was easy. We simply walked, one at a time, into the field and called a dragon. At least that was what the yellowing texts told us to do. Easier said than done.

"Ginny?" Charlie said. "Would you like to go first?"

I knew none of them would think less of me if I said no but I couldn't bring myself to say no. All my life I had wanted to be this close to a dragon. Nervous or not, I wasn't going to wait any longer.

I nodded and walked past him to the field. I waited until I was in the middle of the field. Then I looked up.

The sky was brilliant, that impossible blue you get on chilly winter days.

I raised a hand to the sky and willed my summons to the heavens. At first nothing happened.

Then my life split in two.

That was the only way I could describe it. I suddenly felt like there was another half of me. I closed my eyes and could suddenly see. We were in a cave, surrounded by sleeping dragons that until a few moments ago, we had been one of. We stumbled on sleepy legs over to the cave entrance and out into the brilliant light. We could feel the wings on our back.

Our wings burst out and we began to run. In moments we were airborne. I gasped at the beauty of the snow capped peaks around us. We flew straight and true, knowing something was waiting for us.

The landscape blurred beneath us but we kept well clear of any place where Muggles might be. As we neared, we flew lower. Witches and Wizards began pointing at us, exclaiming. We flew on.

Then we were there. A large stone castle loomed and we flew around it once before we found the snow covered field. A red haired girl stood in the center, her face raised to us.

I snapped back into my own body and opened my eyes as the great dragon settled neatly on the snow before me. For a second I thought it was only a figment of my imagination. But the gorgeous silver dragon shook her self then settled, lowering her head to me.

I reached up and touched her. I could feel her smile.

"Hello, my darling," I muttered to her.

She nuzzled me then extended a wing, inviting me on. I looked back at the others. She understood but kept the invitation.

Charlie grinned at me and motioned me onto my dragon. Draco was smiling and nodded as well. I needed no further motivation though I did notice that Hermione and Snape seemed to be okay with this.

I climbed up onto my dragon and leaned over as she took off.

"What's your name?" I asked.

_Mercury._

I smiled and kissed her scales. My dragon. My very own dragon.


	3. Training

Chapter Three

Training

Hermione's POV

Riding a dragon was like nothing I'd ever felt. I usually was terrified of heights but on top of my black dragon, I felt like nothing could hurt me. It felt wonderful. I always felt safe with Severus but nothing like this.

_Beloved? _

I blinked. "Sorry, Ebone," I replied to my dragon.

I looked at Charlie. "What are we doing today?"

We only had a few days to train before we had to go into a war. Before we were expected to win a war.

"Today," he said, in a resonating voice, "We're going to be practicing a few attack moves. I ask you all to keep in mind that you probably won't need these tactics."

Under Charlie's eye, we each mounted our dragons and Charlie his broom.

Once airborne, Charlie briefly explained what we were going to do. We nodded and set off.

"Ebone? You know what to do?"

_Of course, beloved._

I leaned down, slipping my hands through the wrist straps. "Then do me proud, beloved."

_With pleasure._

Ebone surged forward, mirroring Snow, the white dragon. I looked over to Severus who rode the white dragon. He smiled at me and I returned it.

Then we began.

The attack was nothing like it would have been if we were in this for real. Charlie sent up green flares that represented the enemies.

Ebone roared and attacked the first flare. I felt like part of my dragon and let him lead.

I knew he would not fail me.

The flare disappeared under Ebone's touch and another one appeared just off to the side. Ebone banked but held his ground, letting Snow attack it. The white dragon struck it head on, rolling to its back to protect Severus from the flare.

On the other side of the field, Draco's dragon, Crimson attacked a flare while Mercury banked, letting Ginny sit up and pull her wand. She began shooting off spells as Draco and Crimson covered her back.

We continued for a few more minutes before calling a break.

Charlie beamed at all of us as we landed. "That was brilliant," he said. "We'll keep this up for the next three days. Then we'll head out, okay?"

We all nodded. I could see the tension in Ginny and Draco. Doubtless they were both thinking about Blaise. She was a Slytherin and she'd helped Ginny on more than one occasion.

I wasn't familiar with the girl all that much but she seemed nice enough. Not to mention, she'd helped Ginny. I still wasn't sure I wanted her and Ron together. Sure, I was over Ron, but that didn't mean he didn't deserve the absolute best. Just like Harry. Only, you know, not as gay.

Not that there was anything wrong with that. Harry seemed a lot more at ease once he'd decided who he was pursing. I was just happy he hadn't hurt me or Ginny in the process. I really hoped he hadn't hurt Ron. Cause that was just wrong. Really, really wrong.

It was one thing for Draco to come out of the closet then burn it down to run around with Ginny, but to think that Ron was gay and I'd never seen it...

Enough of that, Hermione, I chided myself.

Ginny slung her arm around my shoulders as we walked back to the castle. "I need a bath," she said.

I had to admit that a shower sounded nice.

"I hope you aren't asking me to join you," I replied slowly.

She laughed. "I'm a one man kind of girl," Ginny said, slanting a smouldering look at the man in question.

He seemed to notice the attention and sent her a look hot enough to jump a movie to an R rating.

"Should I just get out of the way?" I asked. "I mean, I don't want to get tangled up if you two decide to have it out right here and now."

"Don't you know?" Ginny purred. "I'm formally inviting you to a menage-a-tois."

I laughed and she laughed back. Trust Ginny to put me at ease, I thought, feeling tension slip from my shoulders.

(A/N: Short chapter, I know, but I wanted to get a little bit of levity in there. Next chapter they shall launch the offensive!


	4. As Long as You Love Me

Chapter Four

As Long as You Love Me

Blaise's POV

Everything hurt. I'd been through the Cruatis Curse before but it had nothing on this.

It hurt to breathe but I forced a breath into my lungs. The air tasted sweet but that did nothing to alleviate any of my pain. It was like my nerve endings were exploding.

I took another breath and opened my eyes.

I wished I'd kept them shut. Voldemort sneered down at me.

"You see, Malfoy, I told you she would survive."

For a second betrayal rang through me until I realized the Malfoy he was talking to was Lucius. Despite the situation, I felt better.

"Are you up to moving, Blaise?" the Dark Lord asked.

Was I? Nope. Everything still hurt.

To answer that question, I closed my eyes. I had to wonder what spell he'd used on me. I knew a lot of dark spells and this was a new one for me.

"What a pity," Voldemort said and I felt his wand tap me. A jolt like lightning ran through me, just as painful. I think I screamed.

"My lord, it might not be the best course of action to kill the girl," Lucius said from somewhere behind my eyelids.

"Do tell, Malfoy," the Dark Lord sneered.

"The Zabinis would probably get upset and they might even be tempted to lead the Order here."

There was a snicker and I took that as a bad sign. Lucius was right though. My parents were overbearing, rotten people but they loved me. And then there was Draco. We weren't the best of friends but by the same token, he was the only person I could call my best friend and I had the feeling that, with the exception of Ginny, it was the same for him.

Maybe Draco could convince Potter to come get me. I knew Potter. He would move heaven and earth to help someone.

Thoughts of Harry brought on thoughts of Ron and somehow that hurt worse than the spells. I wanted him to come but by the same token I wanted him to stay far, far away. I couldn't bear the thought of him coming for me. Sure I wanted him to like me but if he came...if he came it meant he loved me and loved me enough to face death for me.

"The Zabinis could not find us if they tried," Voldemort said, shattering the almost calm I had going for me.

"Are you certain?" Lucius asked.

"No one can find us here."

"No one but me, apparently."

I knew that voice. God in heaven did I know that voice.

I forced my eyes open and turned my face in the direction of the voice.

Harry Potter stood in the doorway, looking like the best thing this world had to offer. Still, my gaze was drawn to the tall, redhead behind him.

Voldemort drew his wand with a hiss but Harry was faster. "Expelliamus!" he shouted.

Voldemort's wand flew into Harry's grasp and for the first time since this whole thing started, I saw how girls (and guys) could throw themselves at Harry.

Harry smiled. Voldemort turned and fled.

"Take care of her," Harry commanded, stunning Lucius before taking off after Voldemort.

Ron Weasley followed him into the room but broke off and came to me.

"Blaise..." he began. "You okay?"

I gave my head a little shake, tears sliding out of my eyes.

"You'll be all right. I'll take care of you," he whispered. He kissed my forehead, starting a fire there of an entirely different sort. He broke off from me and disappeared near where Lucius fell. A second later he muttered a spell. A long strain of obscenities came from his mouth before he re-emerged in my field of vision.

"We seem to have a bit of a problem, Blaise. But don't worry. I'm on it."

He rose to his feet and came over to where I lay. "Uh, this is gonna be a little weird, but bear with me," he said, straddling me.

His thighs rubbed my hips and despite the mild agony that conjured, I liked how it felt.

He touched his wand to my chest and muttered something. A second later I could breathe again.

"Oh!" I gasped.

"Are you okay?" he demanded. "Did that hurt?"

"No," I managed. "That's much better."

"Good," he said with evident relief.

"What spell did he use?" I asked. Everything else still hurt.

"Mirablilis," he answered. I sighed, both in annoyance and relief.

"Okay," I said. "You have to do several different spells to release it."

"How does your face feel?" he asked.

"Um, it hurts, but so does everything else."

"What's the spell for your face?" he asked.

I told him it. "That'll free my whole head," I said.

He tapped my nose with his wand and muttered the counter spell. Then, before I could say anything he leaned down and kissed me.

"I've wanted to do that for a while," he whispered. "I just wanted to wait til you were more recovered."

Though my arms felt like molten lead, I brought them up to encircle his neck.

"Even if I were on fire," I told him, "Even then, you could still kiss me like that."

He leaned in again, his lips against mine.

(A/N: Ah, gotta love them. :3


	5. Ride The Winds

Chapter Five

Ride the Winds

Draco's POV

Ginny dropped Weasley and Potter off as Crimson and I covered her. I still didn't like Weasley, you understand. But he was the brother of my girlfriend and actually not too horrible a person once you got past his annoying tendencies.

"Will they be all right?" she asked when she was airborn again.

"Potter can hold his own," I assured her. "And you know he won't let a thing happen to Ron."

Ron had come to us the night before and told us that Harry could use his link to Voldemort to find the guy. It seemed like an omen. So, in true Gryffindor fashion, the six of us, us Riders and the rest of the Dream Team, had saddled up and ridden all night. Our dragons knew the way and sleep had come almost easy atop the dragons.

"Are we quite ready for this?" Hermione said.

"I thought you Gryffindors were all about rushing in unprepared-like," I said.

She shot me a grin. "Let's get to it then, Malfoy."

I nodded curtly and whispered a command to Crimson.

"Are you ready for this?" I asked Crimson.

_I will always be ready,_ she replied to me, her voice sounding very much like Ginny's, a similiarity I'd noticed over the past few days.

"Then let's go."

Around me the others rose into the air. I wondered why we were called Riders, when it was our Dragons who were calling the shots.

"There!" Snape hollered.

I followed his pointing finger and saw them rising, the black forms of Death Eaters. As they rose there were impossibly many of them and I realized a great many were Dementors.

I did not like Dementors. They brought up the past and there were a great many things in the past that firmly belonged there.

"Lead the others in the assault," Ginny commanded me. She drew her wand and scowled at the Dementors. "Silver and I will take care of the Dementors."

There was a hard look to her face, one I barely recognized and while I loved her, I wasn't sure I liked this side of her. I hated that we lived in a world that must draw this sharpness out of the ones I love.

On impulse, I pushed Crimson to her and took her chin with one hand, kissing her firmly. "Be careful, my love."

She shot me a pretty grin. "Aren't I always?"

We both knew the answer to that and I wanted to drag her somewhere safe and lock her away until the world was safe for her.

Yeah, that'd go over well.

So I let her go and drew my own wand.

Crimson roared, echoed by Ebone and Snow as the three of us descended on the Death Eaters. I saw flashes of whitish blue and silver as Ginny covered us.

Snape knew tons of spells that even I didn't know. I knew more than Ginny or Hermione because of my parents and Aunt Bella but Snape was putting me to shame.

"Ickle Drakey," Aunt Bella hollered from the fray. "Fancy the little dragon finding a big one to hide behind."

"Who's hiding, Auntie?" I yelled back and aimed a viscious curse her way. Unfortunately she knew the counter curse and cackled as she sent it my way.

Crimson blocked it with her scarlet wings and sent hellfire, so hot it was white, spiraling down towards Bella. I knew I liked my dragon.

"Good girl," I whispered then returned to the battle.

Greyback was attacking Snape and I cursed him. He fell off his broom, screaming as he plummetted.

Snape sent me a grateful nod, perhaps the most emotion I'd ever recieved from him.

A scream of pain and anger split the air and I turned to see several Death Eaters had ganged up on Ginny and Silver. I moved towards Ginny but there was another scream and Silver rolled.

Ginny fell.

"Crimson!" I screamed. She responded instantly as I leapt off her back. I was only a few hundred yards below Ginny but she was falling fast. She spread out and slowed slightly and I caught up with her.

I grabbed her, pulling her to me. She wrapped her arms around my waist as we fell. There was a rush of wings and I reached blindly, snatching at the bridle. I swung onto Crimson, taking Ginny with me.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Will be," she said, looking pale.

"Then shall we end this?" I asked her.

In response, she kissed the back of my neck and drew her wand.

(A/N: Only two chapters left! This is a short one but I'm fond of it.


	6. Write Your Own Ending

Chapter Six

Write Your Own Ending

Harry's POV

I'm gay. It took me a while but I figured it out. What really surprised me was who I wanted.

That's not really important. He's safe back at Hogwarts and my friends are here. And I have to end all of this. It's really all up to me.

I paused for a moment, making sure Ron had everything sorted. Blaise still looked to be in pain but there was a happiness to her face that spoke volumes of how she was feeling.

They'd be fine, I decided.

I had to take care of Tom Riddle.

For a criminal mastermind, he was leaving a trail like an elephant and it wasn't until I'd been following him for a couple minutes that I realized that he might be doing this on purpose. I slowed down and Nagini barely missed me.

"Hey, Nagini," I said in Parseltongue. She looked at me and I realized that she had no special loyalty to Voldemort. She just obeyed the highest bidder.

"Then you'll stand out of my way?" I asked.

She slithered back. _Fine,_ she said. _That guy doesn't give me rats anymore._

I thought of Wormtail and smiled. "How'd you like to eat Pettigrew?"

She gave the snake equivalent of a happy little smile. It was scary. _Deal, man boy. But you should know that if he wins, I will just as happily eat your heart._

"Wouldn't have it any other way," I said.

I stepped past her and wished I had the Sword of Gryffindor on me. I hadn't thought to grab it but it wouldn't help me anyway.

If it didn't think I needed it, then I didn't. If it did, it would be here.

The whisper of fabric was all the warning I got before the spell narrowly missed me. I ducked into a roll and came up, firing a random spell at the direction the spell had come from. Yellow fire errupted in the room.

"Always meddling. You couldn't just die, could you, boy?"

"One could say the same for you, Tom," I shouted at him. I couldn't see him but I knew he had to be hunkered down behind one of the boxes that filled this room. It was a store room and I wondered what all was in these boxes. Seeing as this was a Malfoy place, one could only guess what was in them.

The crate I was hiding behind shuddered as a spell hit it. I dug hastily through my pockets, digging out the many trinkets and tricks that Fred had given me the night before.

Finally I found the one I was looking for. It was a pair of plastic lips, bright red. There were about five of them in my expanded pockets and I pulled out all five. I pulled the red tab off the first one and swallowed it before throwing the other half of it. It hit the far wall and stuck.

"Now, Harry, what shall I do with you?"

I hesitated over what to say. Then an idea hit me and I smiled.

I tapped my throat and whispered another spell then spoke.

"I think the real question is what do do with you," I said. But it wasn't my voice and it didn't come from my mouth. Instead it sounded like Voldemort and it came from the lips I had thrown against the wall.

A spell hit the wall just above the lips but I was moving already.

"What's the matter, Tom?" I asked, still using his voice. "Can't bear to hear anything honest? I think we should take you down. You clearly have failed."

"This is a pathetic trick, even for you, Harry," Voldemort snapped. He threw another spell and this one incinerated the lips. I pulled out the next pair and repeated the same procedure, throwing them on the floor where I was standing before moving to the left. I wanted a good shot and I'd have to be out of the way so Voldemort could get at me.

"Do you know," I continued in his voice. "That even Nagini is doubting you? She is considering siding with Harry."

"She would never!"

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. It is entirely your fault either way."

Voldemort began hexing the area my voice had been coming from and I snuck around behind him.

I must have made some noise, for he turned. It was just as well. I didn't really want to shoot him in the back.

(A/N: Yeah, I know. It's a cliffie. I just couldn't think of a good way to end this fight so I chose the easy way out. I'm a bad person, I know.


	7. Coda

Chapter Seven

Coda

Ron's POV

"Well that was quick," Hermione said.

Blaise was still weak and leaning heavily against me. I'm not sure how much she was faking it. I really didn't care. She fit very nicely under my arm and against my chest. I liked it.

"Where do we go from here?" Ginny asked.

Overhead Voldemort's magics were failing, the borders falling down. It looked like fireworks. I looked around at all of us, wondering the same thing.

"Where ever we want," Harry said, joining us. He looked like hell. His hair, usually wayward as it was, was sticking up at odd angles and a patch of it by his left ear looked like it had been singed off.

Hermione pulled out her wand and flicked it at him with a muttered spell. His hair snipped off in chunks until it was all short, almost a crew cut.

"Thanks," he said with a grin.

"Why am I always looking after you two?" she asked, smiling fondly at the two of us.

"It won't be easy from here," Malfoy said, rather stating the obvious. "Not all of the Death Eaters were here."

"You know if there's a list somewhere?" Harry asked.

"Potter, you and Granger and the Ministry and Dumbledore are welcome to raid my father's study. I have no objections whatsoever. Between you guys, I bet you can find a good list of who to look for."

"This isn't the end," Harry said. "What about the dragons?"

We all looked at the dragons who were sleeping, looking so content I envied them.

"They'll stay as long as they're needed," Hermione said, slipping into textbook mode. I was familiar with that mode.

"So what do we want to do?" Blaise asked.

"End game?" Malfoy asked.

"I'm game," Harry said. "It ain't gonna be easy."

"Like this was?" Snape chimed in dryly.

"It's going to be long," Hermione said.

"Nothing worth the gain isn't worth the risk," Ginny said.

"I'm sure my parents would be fine with helping out," Blaise said. "I doubt they're happy about all this."

"Probably not," I said, kissing her forehead.

"Then we need to-" Harry began.

"Harry, just shut up for a bit," Hermione said not unkindly. "Let's just enjoy the victory of the moment, okay?"

He opened his mouth then smiled. "Okay."

And that's just what we did.

The end.

(A/N: Well, my dears, it's been a long road and took me a lot of work but here it is. Finally finished. Horay!


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